Nomar Garciaparra, playing first base as a defensive substitute, saw the ball, lunged into the air and snagged Conor Jackson’s line drive with his outstretched left arm for the final out of the Dodgers’ most important game of the season to date.

Garciaparra was the most improbable player to key the Dodgers’ 5-3 comeback win over Arizona, considering his injury-plagued season and the fact he’d started only one previous game at first base this season.

Had Garciaparra not come up with his defensive gem, the Diamondbacks surely would’ve scored one run and put the tying run at third base on Sunday. After Garciaparra’s body slammed onto the infield, he scrambled to his feet and shot his left arm up in the air. He sprinted toward the middle of the infield much to the delight of the Dodger Stadium crowd of 54,137.

“For .3 seconds, I was like, `Ohhh,” said Martin, who wrinkled his face. “Then the ball was caught. I don’t know how he got to that. He laid out flat off the ground.”

Garciaparra’s highlight catch overshadowed his own offensive heroics in which he drove in the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning.

The win signified so many achievements for the Dodgers, who stretched their lead to 1 games over Arizona in the National League West. The Dodgers won their eighth consecutive game and swept the Diamondbacks. The Dodgers seized control of the NL West by gaining six games in the last nine days.

They lost eight in a row and now have won eight in a row, a streak that could be continued today in San Diego.

“It feels great to be able to get the victory, that’s the greatest thing about it,” Garciaparra said. “… I’m just glad my glove was broken in.”

Sunday’s game pitted two pitchers who barely had broken into the major leagues – 20-year-old Clayton Kershaw and Arizona’s top prospect, Max Scherzer. Neither earned a decision.

Kershaw started shakily as he loaded the bases in the first inning. But he got out of the jam, getting Chris Young to pop up to first and Mark Reynolds to ground out to third. Kershaw pitched just four innings, three earned runs on six hits.

Scherzer had more success as he struck out 11, including the side in the fourth and fifth inning, in five-plus innings, but he allowed three earned runs as well.

The Dodgers were down, 4-3, but scored two runs in an adventurous seventh inning. Garciaparra was in the middle of those exploits as well. Garciaparra hit a sacrifice fly to right-center to score Blake DeWitt from third. Right fielder Justin Upton caught the ball but dropped it when he tried to transfer the ball from his glove to his right hand, and Garciaparra moved to second on Upton’s error. Andre Ethier hit a single to shortstop on what appeared to be a routine play for Stephen Drew, but he bobbled it and Angel Berroa scored.

Broxton earned the final five outs, but it was an interesting stretch in which he hit 100 mph on his fastball several times. With two outs in the ninth, Broxton gave up a double to pinch-hitter Chad Tracy, then walked Adam Dunn.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre went to the mound and told him not to worry and to concentrate on getting the next out. Garciaparra, who was guarding the first-base line, aided Broxton in that effort when he came up with Jackson’s shot.

“We showed tenacity today, but we came up a foot short,” Arizona manager Bob Melvin said.

Garciaparra has played in just 45 games and is batting .234 in 141 at-bats. At the end of the pennant race, it’s one RBI and one crazy catch that could define his season.

“That’s a hard play to make,” Broxton said. “It’s good for anyone to make a play like that.”